How cash transfer sent thief to prison for 90 years

A mobile money transaction of Sh1,050 has earned a man 90 years behind bars for rape and robbery with violence.

Hillary Otindo alias Elvis Mulaa is said to have been part of a gang that attacked the victim who goes by the initials LSO in court papers, and his wife, at their house in Kefinko Estate. The attack occurred on November 4, 2015.

The court heard that LSO was in his house working on his laptop while his wife was reading the Bible, and their house help busy in the kitchen when Otindo's gang attacked.

The gang began by forcing LSO to send Sh1,050 that was in his mobile money account to another subscriber, whose transaction details showed the name Elvis Mulaa, another name for Otindo.

The cash transfer squarely put Otindo on the scene of crime. High Court judge Ruth Sitati argued that the money transfer satisfied the court that Otindo was part of the gang.

He was convicted of robbing LSO of two mobile phones, a laptop, clothes, shoes and Sh25,000 cash. He was also found guilty of raping LSO’s wife jointly with seven other accomplices who are still at large.

The gang is said to have been armed with machetes, knives, metallic rods and clubs during the attack.

The victims reported the crime at Kakamega Police Station, where the mobile transaction was used to trace Otindo before he was arrested.